Verb

A beard is the hair that grows on a human's chin, cheeks, neck, and the area
above the upper lip (the opposite is a clean-shaven
face). Typically, only post-pubescent males are able to grow
beards. When differentiating between upper and lower facial hair, a
beard specifically refers to the facial hair on the lower part of a
man's chin (excluding the moustache, which refers to
hair above the upper lip and around it). The study of beards is
called pogonology.

In the course of history, men with facial hair
have been ascribed various attributes such as wisdom, sexualvirility, or high social
status; and, conversely, filthiness, crudeness, or an eccentric
disposition, such as in the case of a tramp, hobo or vagrant. In many cultures beards
are associated with nature and outdoorsmen.

History

Ancient and classical world

Pre-classical civilizations

The highest ranking Ancient
Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed or
hennaed (reddish brown)
and sometimes plaited with interwoven gold thread. A metal false
beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by
queens as well as kings. This was held in place by a ribbon tied
over the head and attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing
from about 3000 to 1580 BC.

Mesopotamian
civilizations (Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Median and ancient
Persian) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards,
using tongs and curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and
tiered patterns.

In ancient India, the beard was allowed to grow
long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom (cf. sadhu). The nations in the east
generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, and
the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the
beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a
sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might
pledge it for the payment of a debt.

The Persians were fond
of long beards. In Olearius' Travels,
a King of Persia commands his steward's head to be cut off, and on
its being brought to him, remarks, "what a pity it was, that a man
possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed," but he
adds, "Ah! it was your own fault."

Ancient Greece

The ancient
Greeks regarded the beard as a badge of virility which it was a
disgrace to be without; and in the Homeric time it had
even a sanctity as among the Jews, so that a common form of
entreaty was to touch the beard of the person addressed. It was
only shaven as a sign of mourning, though in this case it was
instead often left untrimmed. A smooth face was regarded as a sign
of effeminacy. The
Spartans
punished cowards by shaving off a portion of their beards. From the
earliest times, however, the shaving of the upper lip was not
uncommon. Grecian beards were
also frequently curled with tongs.

In the time of Alexander
the Great the custom of smooth shaving was introduced.
Reportedly, Alexander ordered his soldiers to be clean shaven,
fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies
to grab and to hold the soldier as he was killed. The practice of
shaving spread from the Macedonians,
whose kings are represented on coins, etc. with smooth faces,
throughout the whole Greek world. Laws were passed against it,
without effect, at Rhodes and Byzantium; and
even Aristotle, we are
told, conformed to the new custom, unlike the other philosophers, who retained
the beard as a badge of their profession. A man with a beard after
the Macedonian period implied a philosopher, and we have many
allusions to this custom of the later philosophers in such proverbs
as: "The beard does not make the sage."

Ancient Rome

Shaving seems to have not been known to the
Romans
during their early history (under the Kings of Rome and the early
Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who
brought a barber to Rome,
which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is,
around 299
BC). Scipio
Africanus was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved
his beard. However, after that shaving seems to have caught on very
quickly, and soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven - being
clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and not Greek. Only in
the later times of the Republic did many youths shave the beard
only partially, and trimmed it so as to give it an ornamental form;
other young men oiled their chins to force a premature growth of
beard.

Still, beards remained rare among the Romans
throughout the Late Republic and the early Principate. In a general
way, in Rome at this time, a long beard was considered a mark of
slovenliness and squalor. The censors L. Veturius
and P.
Licinius compelled M. Livius, who
had been banished, on his restoration to the city to be shaved, and
to lay aside his dirty appearance, and then, but not till then, to
come into the Senate. The
first time of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which
this took place was celebrated as a festival. Usually, this was
done when the young Roman assumed the toga
virilis. Augustus did it in
his twenty-fourth year, Caligula in his
twentieth. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to
some god. Thus Nero put his into a
golden box set with pearls, and dedicated it to Jupiter
Capitolinus. The Romans, unlike the Greeks, let their beards
grow in time of mourning; so did Augustus for the death of Julius
Caesar. Other occasions of mourning on which the beard was
allowed to grow were, appearance as a reus, condemnation, or some public
calamity.

In the second century A.D. the Emperor Hadrian, according
to Dion, was the first of all the Caesars to grow a beard; Plutarch says that
he did it to hide scars on his face. This was a period in Rome of
widespread imitation of Greek culture, and many other men grew
beards in imitation of Hadrian and the Greek fashion. Until the
time of Constantine
the Great the emperors appear in busts and coins with beards;
but Constantine and his successors to the end of the sixth century,
with the exception of Julian, are
represented as beardless.

Barbarian customs

Tacitus states that
among the Catti, a Germanic
tribe (perhaps the Chatten), a young
man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair until he had slain an
enemy. The Lombards or
Longobards, derived their fame from the great length of their
beards. When Otho the
Great said anything serious, he swore by his beard, which
covered his breast.

From the Renaissance to the present day

In the 15th
century, most European men were clean-shaven. Clergymen in 16th
century England were usually clean shaven to indicate their
celibacy. When a priest became convinced of the doctrines of the
Protestant
Reformation he would often signal this by allowing his beard to
grow, showing that he rejected the tradition of the church and
perhaps also its stance on clerical celibacy. The longer the beard,
the more striking the statement. Sixteenth century beards were
therefore suffered to grow to an amazing length (see the portraits
of John
Knox, Bishop
Gardiner and Thomas
Cranmer). Some beards of this time were the Spanish spade
beard, the English square cut beard, the forked beard, and the
stiletto beard.

Strangely, this trend was especially marked
during Queen
Mary's reign, a time of reaction against Protestant reform
(Cardinal
Pole's beard is a good example). Queen
Elizabeth I, succeeding Mary, is said to have disliked beards
and therefore established a tax on them.

In urban circles of Western Europe and the
Americas, beards were out of fashion after the early 17th
century; to such an extent that, in 1698, Peter
the Great of Russia levied a tax
on beards in order to bring Russian society more in line with
contemporary Western Europe.

Throughout the 18th Century
beards were unknown among most parts of Western society, especially
the nobility and upper classes.

Beards returned strongly to fashion after the
Napoleonic Era. Throughout the nineteenth
century facial hair (beards, along with long sideburns and moustaches) was more common
than not. Many male European monarchs were bearded (e.g. Alexander
III of Russia, Napoleon III
of France,
Frederick III of Germany), as were many of the leading
statesmen and cultural figures (e.g. Benjamin
Disraeli, Charles
Dickens and Giuseppe
Verdi). The stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular
mind remains a stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is
added to by a heavy beard (or long sideburns). However, in the
early twentienth century beards fell almost completely out of
fashion once more; they became largely the preserve of elderly,
old-fashioned eccentrics.

Beards, together with long hair, were
reintroduced to mainstream society in Western Europe and the
Americas
by the hippie movement of
the mid 1960s. By the end of the 20th
century, the closely clipped Verdi
beard, often with a matching integrated moustache, was relatively
common.

Beards in North America

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century,
beards were rare in the United States. However, they had become
prevalent by the mid-nineteenth century. Up to and following the
American
Civil War, many famous heroes and General
officers had significant beards. A sign of the shift was to be
observed in occupants of the Presidency: before Abraham
Lincoln, no President had a beard; after Lincoln until William
McKinley, every President (except Andrew
Johnson) had either a beard or a moustache. The beard's loss of
popularity since its nineteenth century heyday is shown by the fact
that after this brief "golden age", no President has worn a full
beard since Benjamin
Harrison, and no President has worn any facial hair at all
since William H.
Taft.

Following World War
I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories as to
why the military began shaving beards. When World War I
broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical
weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so that
gas
masks could seal over their faces. The enlistment of military
recruits for World War I
in 1914 precipitated a major migration of men from rural to urban
locales. This was the largest such migration that had ever occurred
in the United States up to that time. The rural lives of some of
these bearded men included the "Saturday Night bath" as a reality
rather than a humorism. The sudden concentration of recruits in
crowded army induction centers brought with it disease, including
head lice. Remedial action was taken by immediately shaving the
faces and cutting the hair of all inductees upon their
arrival.

When the war concluded in 1918 the "Doughboys"
returned to a hero's welcome. During this time period the Film
Industry was coming into its own and "going to the movies" became a
popular pastime. Due to the recent Armistice many of
the films had themes related to World War I. These popular films
featured actors who portrayed soldiers with their clean shaven
faces and "crew cuts".
Concurrently, "Madison
Avenue's" psychological mass marketing was becoming prevalent.
The Gillette
Safety Razor
Company was one of these marketers' early clients. These events
conspired to popularize short hair and clean shaven faces as the
only acceptable style for decades to come.

mainarticle Shaving
in Judaism The Bible states in
Leviticus
19:27 that "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither
shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." Talmudic rabbis understood this to mean
that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since
the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard.
Because scissors have
two blades, halakha
(Jewish law) permits their use to trim the beard, as the cutting
action comes from contact of the two blades and not the blade
against the skin. For this reason, most poskim (Jewish legal decisors)
rule that Orthodox
Jews may use electric razors to remain cleanshaven, as such
shavers cut by trapping the hair between the blades and the metal
grating, halakhically a
scissor-like action. Some prominent contemporary poskim maintain
that electric shavers constitute a razor-like action and
consequently prohibit their use.

Many Orthodox Jews grow beards for social and
cultural reasons. Since the electric razor is a relatively modern
innovation, virtually all Orthodox Jews grew beards before its
advent. Beards are thus symbolic of keeping the traditions of one's
ancestors. The Zohar, one of the
primary sources of Kabbalah (Jewish
mysticism), attributes
holiness to the beard,
specifying that hairs of the beard symbolize channels of
subconscious holy energy that flows from above to the human soul.
Therefore, most Hasidic Jews, for whom Kabbalah plays an important
role in their religious practice, traditionally do not remove or
even trim their beards.

Also, some Jews refrain from shaving during the
30-day mourning period after the death of a close relative, known
in Hebrew as the "Sheloshim" (thirty).

Nowadays, members of many Catholic religious
communities, mainly those of Franciscan
origin, use a beard as a sign of their vocation. At various times
in her history the Catholic Church permitted and prohibited facial
hair. Some Messianic
Jews also wear beards to show their observance of the Old
Testament.

Islam

In contemporary Muslim practice a longer beard is
associated with Sunnis, a more closely trimmed beard with Shia
Muslims. Accordingly, in Iraq where ethnic cleansing has taken
place to make districts all-Sunni or all-Shi'a, members of the
local minority adjust their beard style to avoid recognition.

According to the majority opinions in the four
major Sunnischools of
jurisprudence, a beard is mandatory for all men, unless they
have a medical reason not to grow one. Minority opinions exist in
all four schools that the beard is optional, but commendable.

Muhammad also was quoted as saying that growing
the beard is part of the Abrahamic tradition that Muslims have
inherited. Muslims believe that Allah commanded
Abraham to keep his beard, shorten his mustache, clip his nails,
shave the hair around his genitals, and pluck his armpit
hair.

Rastafari Movement

A male Rastafarian's
beard is a sign of his pact with God (Jah or Jehovah), and his
Bible is his source of knowledge. Leviticus 21:5
("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they
shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the
flesh.") Likewise, it is not uncommon for a Rastafarian beard to
grow uncombed; like dreadlocks.

Leland
Sklar, a prolific sessionbass
guitar player, is noted for his long hair and a long flowing
beard. In the past few years ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters
frontman Dave Grohl has famously sported a beard.

Modern prohibition of beards

Religions

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons)

LDS Church Presidents from Brigham
Young to George
Albert Smith all wore beards of some manner. But from the time
of David O.
McKay through Thomas S.
Monson, general Church leaders have been uniformly
clean-shaven. Mormon men in general have followed suit, though this
is not mandated by scripture or Church policy. Having a beard does
not disqualify a man from temple attendance, nor from serving in
many positions of local leadership.

Full-time missionaries are clean-shaven as a
matter of policy. Bishops and
stake
presidents are strongly encouraged not to grow facial hair.
Students at Brigham
Young University adhere to an Honor Code containing Dress and
Grooming Standards. This includes the following language: "If worn,
moustaches should be neatly trimmed and may not extend beyond or
below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean
shaven; beards are not acceptable." Exceptions are made for BYU
students who must keep their beard for medical reasons. While such
exceptions once applied to religious reasons as well, such is not
the current administrative stance of BYU.

Sports

Today, for practical reasons (with some exceptions),
it is illegal for amateur boxers to have
beards. As a safety precaution, high school wrestlers must be
clean-shaven before each match, though neatly trimmed moustaches
are often allowed.

The Cincinnati Reds, Major League Baseball's
oldest existing team, had a longstanding enforced policy where all
players had to be completely clean shaven (no beards, long
sideburns or moustaches). However, this policy was abolished
following the sale of the team by Marge
Schott.

Playoff
beard is a tradition common on some teams in the NHL and now in other
leagues wherein players allow their beards to grow from the
beginning of the playoff season until the playoffs are over for
their team.

Armed forces

Canada

The Canadian
Forces permits moustaches, provided they are
neatly trimmed and do not pass beyond the corners of the mouth; an
exception to this is the handlebar
moustache, which is permitted. Generally speaking, beards are
not permitted to CF personnel with the following exceptions:

members who must maintain a beard due to religious requirements
- (Muslims, Sikhs or orthodox Jews, for example)

members with a medical condition which precludes
shaving

These exceptions notwithstanding, in no case is a
beard permitted without a moustache, and only full beards may be
worn (not goatees,
van
dykes, etc.).

Personnel with beards may still be required to
modify or shave off the beard, as environmental or tactical
circumstances dictate (e.g., to facilitate the wearing of a gas
mask).

Beards are also allowed to be worn by personnel
conducting OPFOR duties.

France

"The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of
Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271

"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and
shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to
arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out
of them, and smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth and to
rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in
his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and
endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign
of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275

"This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is
seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is
the token of the superior nature….It is therefore unholy to
desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.” St. Clement of
Alexandria, 2.276

"It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man’s natural and
noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277

"The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to
distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or
to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength." Lactantius (c.
304-314, W), 7.288

"Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally
change the form of a man. For the Law says, “You will not deface
your beards.” For God the Creator has made this decent for women,
but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic
Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)

Fictional figures

Beard styles

Beard hair is most commonly removed by
shaving. If only the
area above the upper lip is left unshaven, the resulting facial
hairstyle is known as a moustache; if hair is left
only on the chin, the style is a chin beard.
The combination of a moustache and a chin beard is a goatee or Van Dyck, unless the
mustache and chin beard are connected, in which case it is known as
a circle
beard.

Full -
downward flowing beard with either styled or integrated moustache

Sideburns - hair
grown from the temples down the cheeks toward the jawline.
Sometimes with a moustache.

Chinstrap
- a beard with long sideburns that comes forward and ends under the
chin, resembling a chinstrap, hence the name.

Casey - A full beard normally found on young adolescents,
usually thinner until the owner gets older, when it will grow
thicker than most.

Goatee -
A tuft of hair grown on the chin, sometimes resembling a billy
goat's.

Hollywoodian- A beard with integrated mustache that is worn on
the lower part of the chin and jaw area, without connecting
sideburns.

Reed - A beard with integrated mustache that is worn on the
lower part of the chin and jaw area that tapers towards the ears
without connecting side burns.

Royale - is a narrow pointed beard extending from the chin. The
style was popular in France during the period of the Second Empire,
from which it gets its alternative name, the imperial or impériale.

Stubble
- a very short beard of only one to a few days growth. This became
fashionable during the heyday of Miami Vice.
During this time, a modified electric razor called the Miami Device
became popular, which would trim stubble to a preset length.

Neck
Beard - Similar to the Chinstrap, but with the chin and jawline
shaven, leaving hair to grow only on the neck. While never as
popular as other beard styles, a few noted historical figures have
worn this type of beard, such as Henry
Thoreau and Horace
Greeley.

Soul
patch - a small beard just below the lower lip and above the
chin

Stashburns - long muttonchop type sideburns connected to a
mustache, but with a shaved chin